Looking to build a budget gaming and editing rig

[mattamomo]

Hey everyone
I have been meaning to build a system for a while now, I had planned to do a build with the e3 1230 v3 and a gtx 770 last year but never got round to it.
I was looking at the following set up to build now:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£221.98 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.99 @ Novatech)
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC MX4 4g Thermal Paste (£4.69 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£55.34 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£55.92 @ More Computers)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£34.80 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£40.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£268.96 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£44.37 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: ARCTIC Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£3.29 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: ARCTIC Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£3.29 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Corsair Raptor K30 Wired Gaming Keyboard (£39.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £850.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-04 22:06 GMT+0000

This however came to more than I expected, I don't remember for certain but I am pretty sure in general PC hardware has gone up quite a bit in price from when I last had a build in mind. As well as this I will be getting the AOC I2369VM IPS monitor for another £120. All together this comes to around £970 when I was aiming for £900 or under. I don't want to sacrifice quality however.

I was wondering if this set up will handle games and editing to a high level well. And also if there are any ways I could cut costs or improve on selected items.

Any help appreciated

 

[Archaic59]

Nice build. I only saw 2 items I'd change to improve build quality. Kingston SSD not that great and had issues for a long time, don't know if they ever fixed it. Regardless, a Samsung 850 EVO would be a great quality performer if you can handle a small price increase. Also, the 500 B1 power supply is an entry level lower quality model that you should upgrade. EVGA's better model is the G2 series and would be a great addition to your build adding a higher level of dependability to it. Rest looks good. Cheers!

 

[ibjamie92]

As above a better and bigger SSD would be good especially for video editing, depending on how much video editing you do you might want to consider 32gb of RAM although you can always just buy another 2 sticks at a later date when you have the money

 

[mattamomo]

Thanks for the two responses, What I have came up with is this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£221.98 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.99 @ Novatech)
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC MX4 4g Thermal Paste (£4.69 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£61.98 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£55.92 @ More Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£64.79 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.90 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£268.96 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Antec TruePower Classic 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£70.44 @ More Computers)
Case Fan: ARCTIC Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£3.29 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: ARCTIC Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£3.29 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Corsair Raptor K30 Wired Gaming Keyboard (£39.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £914.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-05 12:48 GMT+0000

I think the motherboard allows for an upgrade on ram in the future which I am sure I will take advantage of.

 

[Archaic59]

I see you made some good changes. The board is limited to DDR3 1600 memory so there's no reason to buy 1866. Not sure where you plan on putting the extra fans but if it's the side or top I recommend getting 140mm fans that you can run a bit slower than 120mm, to be quieter. The Antec PSU is made by Seasonic and is very high quality. Build looks very good.

Check here for case locations that support 140mm fans. Larger fans turning a bit slower move air more quietly-
http://www.corsair.com/en/carbide-series-200r-compact-atx-case

 

[mattamomo]

Thanks for the suggestions. One more question I have is about the Xeon e3 cpu's.
Last year a Xeon e3 1230 v3 was £180, this year it is £215. Last year the e3 1241 v3 was £220, now it is £250.
What is the reason for these large increases? and is there any better value option than the E3 1231 v3 which seems rather expensive at £221 (not far off of an i7)

 

[Archaic59]

The Xeons are very popular and I'm sure Intel noticed this and raised the price. There's undoubtedly more to it than that. The 1231 is still the best value for xeon right now, unless you can find an i7 at a sale price somewhere.

 

[mattamomo]

Thanks for the help.
Will get two 140mm fans and I think I am happy with the build as a whole.